Bad news for Katie Holmes, who's
planning an acting comeback on Broadway this fall after taking
some time off to play Mrs. Tom Cruise. And bad news for the
producers who hoped she would bring gold to the box office.

So far, advance sales for Holmes's All My Sons have
paled in comparison to those for Julia Roberts' panned
performance in Three Days of Rain and Nicole Kidman's
naked turn in The Blue Room:

The New York Post: Katie Holmes, who'll star
in the revival of Arthur Miller's "All My Sons" this fall, may be
a nice little actress, but so far she's not much of a draw, say
sources involved in the production who are beginning to fret that
ticket sales aren't as strong as they'd hoped...

Ticket brokers and group sales agents, who at one point thought
Holmes would be this season's Julia Roberts -
who pretty much sold out "Three Days of Rain" in One Day of Rain
- say interest in the Holmes show is nil...

The advance for "All My Sons," which opens in September, is said
to be less than $1 million.

Contrast that with the $4 million advance Cruise's ex-wife
Nicole Kidman racked up in 1998, when she made
her Broadway debut in David Hare's "The Blue
Room."

Why is Holmes bombing when Cruise's previous wife scored? Timing.
Specifically, back when Kidman hit Broadway, Cruise was still
popular and theater tickets were still affordable:

Defamer: Kidman
opened in both London and New York productions of The
Blue Room at the same time as Eyes Wide
Shut was gearing up to open in movie theaters. The
only Stanley
Kubrick film to open in the number-one spot, the ritzy S&M
flick had more than freaky costumes going for it — Kubrick passed
away before its premiere, the film itself wasn't too shabby and,
most importantly, Tom Cruise and Kidman were enjoying their final
year as Hollywood's golden couple. People went to see his movies
and couldn't wait for the chance to see both in the same one. He
used to be an actor! One the Academy considered worthy of an
Oscars nom!

The
Post on the other hand, goes for a much more pragmatic
explanation: Broadway tickets are expensive! (And unlike in the
go-go '90s, people aren't so willing to shell out $110 to go-go
to the theater.)